Concert Preview: Sons of Champlin
4.14.06

By Serena Markstrom

Champlin isn't over the hill yet.

His band got its start in the 1960s, but it's still "kicking like a mule".

Bill Champlin's tone was pretty upbeat when he complained about the current state of the music industry.

"It's hard to make anything happen if you are not under 20," the Sons of Champlin frontman said during a recent interview from Las Vegas, where he was on a two-week stint playing with his other band, Chicago.

"The worse musicians they are, the more ’honest' they are. ... I hate to be uncharitable about it. A lot of the records that are out there are so processed.

“I know how to use that equipment, too. It still sounds wrong."

Champlin's band, the Sons, is the real deal, he said.

"We're not trying to grab something that we used to have," Champlin said. "We're grabbing something we have right now. ... There's something to be said about someone who knows what they are doing and knows how to do it well."

The Sons came out of the musically fertile San Francisco scene in the 1960s. Many regard the band as one of the great bands of the era, up there with Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Moby Grape, according to an article in JamBase magazine.

"Some things just make the world glow more brightly," the article's author, Dennis Cook, wrote. "The air tastes sweeter, and your limbs lighten in their presence.

“Seeing the Sons of Champlin for the first time in early 2004 flipped that euphoric switch in my head."

Equally gushing prose also shows up all over the band's Web site, www.sonsofchamplin.com. The fans seem to feel like they are in on something special, like they know a secret only true music lovers are privy to.

A Taboo press release said the group was hard to define because of its eclectic mix of material.

"The Sons were playing acid jazz before it had a name," the press release said. "Always known for their outstanding musicianship, they have become the benchmark against which other players have measured their chops."

So if it was that great, how come so few non-baby boomers have heard of the group?

"We had some opportunities to get over past a certain level, but we didn't recognize it," Champlin said, referring to record labels' interest in the band. "We didn't really pay any attention to it. We just made some mistakes that were really kind of stupid."

Champlin said he's not really reaching for vast commercial success with the Sons; he has that with Chicago.

"I'm going to do it this way. If it's not a hit, too bad," he said. "I don't want to be up there with Kelly Clarkson and the Backstreet Boys.

"There's something about the Sons that's just really special. We put down some major stuff. There's a funk groove there that's exactly what people want to dance to.

“We may not look like a jam band, but we're slamming - kicking like a mule."

The band first reunited for some shows in 1997, but it didn't go into the studio for several years. Then it recorded "Hip Li'l Dreams" and released it last fall.

The title track is about a type of girl Champlin has observed in Los Angeles. He called these fad-followers "Q-Tip for brains" who want to be everything but themselves.

The song is about "a chick who forgot her own life and (has) no real ambitions or dreams of her own," he said.

Appearing at Taboo will be original members Geoff Palmer (keyboards, vibraphone and baritone sax), bassist David Schallock and drummer James Preston. Guitarist Camen Grillo and Mic Gillette on horns will join them, with guests on saxophones.

"The Sons are up there to present something and to let some magic happen," he said. "The audience walks out and says,’That was totally happening.'

“Catch the Sons while you can. It's really a cool, cool thing. Anybody who goes is going to go,’Hey, I went and you didn't.'‘

Sons of Champlin

What: Jazz-funk

When: 8 p.m. today

Where: Taboo, 23 W. Sixth Ave.

Tickets: $15